Curriculum & Learning

Oxenhope C.E. Primary School’s broad and balanced curriculum is designed to stimulate and nurture each child’s developmental needs. Whole class, group and individual teaching approaches are used to ensure that every child’s potential is fully realised. The school understands that, for a child to succeed academically, importance must be placed on their happiness, well-being and security.  One of our strengths is achieving this aim.

The curriculum is designed to contribute to children developing lifelong learning skills. It is designed to be relevant to our children and take into account different individual learning styles. To achieve this, the curriculum is divided into themes and topics, combining different subjects of the National Curriculum. It focuses on developing skills as well as knowledge and is organised to ensure children receive a wide range of stimulating opportunities for learning during their school life. A variety of teaching strategies are employed with an emphasis on creativity to motivate pupils and encourage a love of learning.  We also pride ourselves in providing numerous opportunities for children to learn about keeping healthy, by encouraging participation in physical activity and learning about and making healthy lifestyle choices.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, a play- based curriculum is delivered through six areas of learning. In Year 1 the curriculum becomes more structured as children mature and further develop.  In years 2-6 the structure of the curriculum encourages children to develop independent learning skills in preparation for their transition to secondary school.

All children in school follow the National Curriculum programmes of study.

This includes:

Core subjects: English, Mathematics, Science, I.C.T. and R.E.

Foundation subjects: Design and Technology, Art, History, Geography, Music, P.E. and Personal Social and Health Education.

Creative curriculum:  Integrates innovative topic areas with core and foundation subjects to add new dimensions and challenges to the curriculum.

 

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

The school aims to identify at the earliest opportunity all children who need particular support, to both allow them full access to the National Curriculum and to promote their development and achievements.

Children with Special Educational Needs are those who require support additional and different from the usual differentiated activity provided by the teacher. Each child on the Special Educational Needs Register has their own Pupil Profile which identifies the child’s strengths, areas for development, preferred learning style, interests at home and at school. We aim to create as full a picture as possible, drawing information from teachers, the child, parents, support staff and other external agencies. This Profile is then used to decide exactly what extra support would be most appropriate.

Mrs. Alison Sutcliffe has specific responsibility for Special Needs as our Inclusion Manager.

 

ABLE & TALENTED

We recognise an able and talented child as demonstrating a significantly higher level of ability than most pupils of the same age in one or more curriculum area or in any of the following:

   academic ability
   creativity
   sport

A range of provision is available for able and talented pupils through:

planning of challenging differentiated activities and resources that develop higher order thinking skills - ‘expert thinkers create expert learners’

providing challenge in the classroom through investigation, open- ended questions and tasks - we provide scope for our children to think in different ways

delivering a range of extracurricular enrichment opportunities to encourage talent to flourish. We have links with Oakbank Sports College, the Worth Valley Schools cluster activities and there are opportunities for sports and arts by organisations outside of school.

 

RE & COLLECTIVE WORSHIP

Our School is a Voluntary Aided (VA) Church of England foundation school, and as such maintains the traditions and doctrines of the Anglican Church.  The Vicar of Oxenhope, Reverend June Medhurst, visits the school regularly to lead Collective Worship and to chat with children and staff, and the children attend special seasonal services in our Parish Church every term.

Children are taught R.E. following the guidelines of the Diocese of Bradford, Ripon & Leeds Syllabus. Please contact the school for more information on this. The main framework of the syllabus is based primarily upon Christianity; however it is important that children are taught about other faiths as they grow up in an increasingly diverse and multicultural society.

All members of our school participate in Collective Worship each day. This is a special time when the school community comes together to pause and reflect. Collective worship is led, at different times, by teachers, our Vicar and other church leaders, our Methodist Minister and the children themselves. We have a theme each week which is developed by all who lead our worship. Themes are chosen to give the children opportunity to think about our faith and how it influences our moral, social and ethical choices. During worship we listen, share ideas, sing and pray together. 

Parents may choose to withdraw their child from Collective Worship. The rights of parents to withdraw their children from Collective Worship established in the 1944 Act remain unchanged.  Parents also retain this right in the particular context of Voluntary Aided schools, such as ours.